‘Kiki’ the movie is about the lives of young LGBTQ people of colour who participate in the spectacular Kiki balls that give the performers a safe and empowered space to enact various modes of gender expression.

The Kiki scene was created within the LGBTQ youth-of- color community as a peer-led group offering alternative family systems. The scene has evolved into an organization with governing rules, leaders and teams, numbering hundreds of members in New York and across the U.S and Canada. Run by LGBTQ youth for LGBTQ youth, it draws strategies from the Civil Rights, Gay Rights and Black Power movements.

I photographed some of the spectacular performers at the NYC premiere of the movie in Harlem

Last week I spent a morning up on the roof taking photos for Jocks&Nerds magazine of the ever suave August Darnell aka Kid Creole. The man has so much style from top to toe. He has co written a musical called Cherchez La Femme with my great friend Vivien Goldman, about ‘the pursuit of happiness ..the smell of success ..sibling rivalry .. ‘ and more set in New York and the Caribbean in the 1980’s. Performances from May 20-June 12.

On a cold day in February Lucy Tupu and Eric and I spent the day photographing Lucy’s gorgeous furniture line on the streets of New York City.  Originally from New Zealand Lucy’s ‘Flax’ collection is inspired by traditional Samoan weaving techniques combine Paul Smith plaids and  bright jewel like hues. Go check out Lucy’s ottomans, daybeds, rugs and lighting at the ICFF show at the Javits centre May 14-17

Rough Trade was started in 1978 by Geoff Travis, he had a small record label and a very cool record store/local hangout off Ladbroke Grove. I shot many of their bands including The Raincoats, Red Crayola and Stiff Little Fingers.

Now they have a huge store in Williamsburg and a new magazine. The cover story (above, featuring a great portrait by photographer Gudrun Georges) for their first issue is an interview with Vivien Goldman (who gave me my first job shooting a band, Siouxee and the Banshees in 1978) and myself. In fact it is more of a chat about how two friends grew up during the punk and hip hop eras and what we are up to today.

Time flies and Vivien and I are still great friends both involved in music and culture.

The Raincoats rehearsing in their London bathroom 1981

South London Kid 1979 for cover of Stiff Little Fingers single from ‘Inflammable Material’

The Pat Fields store on Bowery is closing today. Pat is there looking wonderful as usual. The store is packed with stylin’ downtown and uptown folk, young and older. I bought clothes from her store on 8th Street back in the 80’s, shot her House of Fields kids vogueing  and shopped at the Bowery store. Pat is a legend. She was more than inclusive, young old gender gay straight, everyone welcome at the store. It was special to be served by some gorgeous drag queen, Pat did it all before Mac, before Gaga and all the rest.

Jason King is the coolest- I took photos of the ‘disco king’ on his gold throne on the street – his band called Company Freak brings together live horns and strings with spectacular vocalists and a desire to get you moving. Featuring fabulous divas like Dawn Tallman and Cassondra James Kellam, you can’t help but dance dance dance!

Just came back from having an exhibition in Iceland. Took a trip to the countryside. The scenery is beyond amazing, hot water geysers spout hundreds of feet high from the ground, black volcanic sand beaches, they say the weather changes every 15 minutes which make rainbows, small horses in a field (they eat them), Icelandic folk believe in elves, there is a pagan Viking spirit, no wonder they filmed Game of Thrones there.

And the view outside my hotel window of the ‘Slipperin’ boatyard. Iceland is all about the elements, weather, fishing, extreme landscapes.

In 1983 I went to Boston to photograph the group New Edition for the cover of their British release of the single Candy Girl. We went to their school in Boston where I took this shot.

The group was formed in 1978 by childhood friends Bobby Brown, Michael Bivins,Ricky Bell, Travis Pettus and Corey Rackley, all of whom were living in the Orchard Park housing projects in Boston. They took the name New Edition to signify they were a new edition of the Jackson 5.

They were spotted at a talent show by by singer/producerMaurice Starr, he decided to bring the group to his studio the following day to record what would become their debut album, Candy Girl. Released in 1983 on Starr’s Streetwise Records, the title track went to number one on both the American R&B singles chart and the UK singles chart.

Returning from their first major concert tour, the boys were dropped off back at their homes in the projects and were each given a check in the amount of $1.87. Starr told them tour budget and expenses had taken up all their money. They parted company with Starr in 1984 (Starr responded by promptly creating the group New Kids on the Block( essentially a white teenage New Edition).